Items filtered by date: August 2013

We provide you water and soft drinks (or hot tea for winter trips). Each buggy is equipped with a first aid kit the leading buggy has the required tools
needed in case a buggy gets stuck. Your leader has experience of off-road terrain and is trained to handle any situation that may occur.

There are however some items you should bring:

A camera, the strongest available sun block, a scarf to put around your mouth and nose (especially for mountain trips) a long sleeved t-shirt (to protect
you from the sun). You do not need to wear long trousers, shorts will work perfectly well, or closed shoes, sandals will be adequate.

In winter, don't forget to take a jacket, as the weather can be cold or wet.

The sand temperature can differ a lot from summer to winter. In midsummer, trying to walk barefoot on the sand at noon is almost impossible, unless you are
a Fakir (a barefooted holy man who wonders the desert) and can walk on fire! The sand in summer is hot enough to really burn your skin. If you have to or
want to walk on hot sand, then wear closed shoes because sand will get into sandals and burn your feet.

Driving when the sand is this hot is also bad for the tyres because the intense heat can cause them to explode.

The thing to remember is to put up a shade or a big umbrella, and you will find that the sand will cool down in just a few minutes so you will be able to
sit or lie on it.

During winter nights, the sand is as cold as the weather, with temperatures dropping as low as 3C. So, if you have to walk on sand in the middle of the
night, closed shoes are once again important, to stop your feet from getting too cold. And, don't forget to wear a jacket.

During the day, you won't see many wild animals, except for some camels, gazelles and Oryx, as a lot of wildlife chooses to seek shelter from the worst of
the day-time heat.

Most will come out at night-time, such as the fox, the wolf, the desert rabbit and mouse. You should be aware that you should not expect to see a lot of
animals in general, because the desert remains a very hostile place for all living creatures, it’s a place where animals have to work hard to survive as
nothing comes easily.

In addition to animals, there are also reptiles including lizards, as well as a few scorpions. Of course, we cannot forget the falcon, a great predator,
which, after training, can hunt other species and bring them back to you.

But don’t worry, nothing that lives in the desert will harm you. Animals, reptiles, or lizards never run after you or attack you unless you provoke them by
chasing them or touching them.

The desert remains a very quiet and sterile place but it is also a fragile environment that needs to be protected from detritus created by humans. An
interesting fact that not many people know is that most desert places were once sea beds, and in fossil rocks, you can see coral, shells, and even fish
bones, trapped in the rock.

Due to high demand, Buggy Adventures is in the process of creating an over-night buggy camping trip so our customers can experience the quiet of the
beautiful desert sky full of stars, far from the light pollution of the city, with the added thrill of buggy driving in the dark. It is a truly fulfilling
experience and a chance for drivers and passengers to see wild animals that are only ordinarily seen by night.

Until we launch that service, we would advise our customers against going buggy driving at night alone for two reasons:

1You will not be able to see the landscape and the beauty of it.

2Driving in sand dunes at night is dangerous because you cannot see the depth of sand dunes. A path that may appear flat could in reality be a steep
downward dune slope, something which is hazardous for the inexperienced driver.

When our night-time buggy trips launch, it will be best to choose a full moon night to provide you with more light and to drive slowly and carefully,
making sure you follow the leader who knows the desert well enough to guide you through it safely in the dark.

Who knows? You may even see the legendary desert “jinn” or “genie spirit” moving across the desert !

1Set off early, or set off late, for example, between 6am and 10am and 5pm to 7pm. At this time of day, the sun will be low in the sky and the heat will be
less, so you will get a much clearer view of the colours of the desert.

2Always drink plenty of water.

3Try to cover your body as much as possible by wearing a light but long sleeved t-shirt or other long sleeves.

4Avoid staying too long in direct sunlight.

5Bring your strongest sun block.

6Exercise fanatics, save it for another occasion - running about in the sand is tiring anyway, but add high temperatures to that, and you will exhaust
yourselves very quickly.

If you stick to these golden rules, you will be surprised how pleasant a summer buggy trip can be.

It is worth noting that a mountain buggy trip takes you to 600m altitude, at which the temperature decreases by a few degrees. When you take a desert buggy
trip, you will get away from the humidity of the coast and into a wide open landscape where there is more of a breeze. On both trips, you will also get
away from heat producing cars and air conditioning units that both add a few degrees to the summer heat, making it feel hotter than it really is.

Can the buggies take the heat?

The answer to this is actually, “yes” however, taking them out during the hottest parts of the day is not recommended. We have tried our buggies in these
conditions on the roughest roads and steepest hills and they managed perfectly without overheating as they are tough, durable machines made of heavy-duty
parts.

However, we noticed that the tyres were got really hot which means there was a danger of them exploding on contact with the hot sand. We also found that
the power of the engine was reduced, and that some rubber cooling pipes expanded, and while we did not have any total breakdowns, we felt that that was
certainly a risk. So, we concluded that the best way to preserve the buggy’s engine, and to prevent any mechanical failure, was to avoid driving during the
hottest time of the day.

We are happy to content ourselves by making sure our trips take place before 10am and after 5pm, to avoid putting the buggy, and more importantly the
driver and passenger, at risk.

Are desert buggy trips possible during the summer?

Summer buggy trips that take place between 10am and 4pm will leave you as red as a tomato and extremely dehydrated. Even the best sun block money can buy
will make very little difference because of the intense heat at this time of year. And, you won’t see any wildlife, just the odd crazy human or two,
because animals are sensible enough to stay under cover during the day’s most intense heat, which can be as high as 50C, which, you don’t need me to tell
you, is unbearable.

It is worth remembering that we have the heat to thank for the beautiful wilderness that we know as the "desert". If the rain was more frequent and stable,
the desert would actually be a beautiful forest, as, all the red sand needs is a little fertiliser and water to allow it to produce foliage. It is for this
reason that red sand is used for gardens and agriculture in the UAE.

To come back to our topic, the best time for a buggy trip in the summer is either early in the morning, from sunrise to 9am, or from 5pm until sunset. At
these times, there is normally a breeze due to the difference of temperature between night and day, making the desert more pleasant place to be. With the
sun lower in the sky, there is less glare meaning you will be able to enjoy more of the landscape’s beauty, including the different colours of sand and the
pink tones of fossil rocks.